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ARNOLD. THE AMERICAN TRAITOR; 
ANDR^, THE BRITKH SPY ; 

A\^ A S H I :t^ (yr O IST, 

THE DEFENDER OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBEKTY, THE Fk.THER OF HIS COUNTKl, 
THE COMMANDER-IN CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 



ADDRESS, 



nEI.IVERED BEFORE 






OF ROCKLAND COUNTY, 



OlSr FEB]RUARY 22, 1881, 



HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 



Redelivered in Neio Haven by Request of the "New Haven Colony Historical 
Society," March 18, 1881. 



N EW YoilK : 
THE BURR PRINTING ILOUSE, 18 JACOB STREET. 

1881. 



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ARNOLD, THE AMERICAN TRAITOR; 
ANDR6, THE BRITISH SPY; 

THE DEFENDER OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY, THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, 
THE COMMANDER-IN CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 



ADDKESS, 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



OF ROCKLAND COUNTY, 
ON FEBHUARY 22, 1881. 



HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 



Redelivered in New Hamn by Request of the ' ' New Haven Colony Historkal 
Society,'' March 18, 1881. 



New York : 

THE BURR PRINTING HOUSE, 18 JACOB STREET. 

1881. 



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jiisioiilcal mi |Forij|iri| NHi^iu of ||ocM:tntl fiounfu. 



ORGANIZATION. 

The first meeting of the Society to effect an organization for the objects 
hereinafter named was held af Nyack on the 22d of February, 1878. A call 
for a meeting had been previously issued, and the following gentlemen 
evinced their interest in the objects of the Society by their presence at the 
meeting, by letter or otherwise : 

Hon. J. W. Ferdon, Hon. A. E. Suffern, Dr. C. R. Agnew, W. S. Gil- 
man, Jr., Rev. A. S. Freeman, Robert Smith, Dr. W, Gov an, W. T. 
Searing, W. A. Shepard, John L. Salisbury, G. Van Nostrand, John 
Charlton, Albert Wells, Prof. G. D. Wilson, W. H. Bannister, Rev. 
W. C. Stitt, Chas. W. Miller, W. H. Whiton, Benj. Gilman, Rev. A. 
H. Hand, D.D., J. Sneider, Cyrus M. Crum, R. Lexow, Rev. G. M. S. 
Blauvelt, H. Whittemore. 

The following Officers were elected for 1878 : 

President, Hon. J. W. FERDON. 

Vice-Presidents : , 

Hon. a. E. SUFFERN, 
ALBERT WELLS, 
W. GOV AN, M.D., 
JACOB SNEIDER, 
CYRUS M. CRUM. 

Recording Secretary/, - HENRY WHITTEMORE. 
Corresponding Secretary, W. S. GILMAN, Jr. 
Treasurer, G. VAN NOSTRAND. 

The organization was not completed until the early part of 1879, when 
the Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Secretary of State, in ac- 
cordance with an Act of the Legislature of the State of New York entitled, 
"An Act for the incorporation of Societies or Clubs for certain lawful pur- 
poses," passed May 12th, 1875, and amendments thereto. 



MEMBERSHIP. 

There are three classes of members : Resident Members, Life Mem- 
bers, and Associate Members ; the latter are usually composed of non- 
residents of the County, and pay no dues. 

MEETINGS. 
The Annual Meeting of the Society is held on the 22d day of February. 

The Quarterly Meetings are held on the 3d Saturday of May, August, 
and November, at such places as the Executiye Committee designates. 

OBJECTS. 

The Objects of the Society are, to discover, procure, and preserve what- 
ever may relate to the natural, civil, and literary history of Rockland County, 
and to promote an interest in Forestry and Rural Adornment. 

The Society is collecting materials for a Library and Museum, to con- 
sist of 

1. Books and Pamphlets on General History. 

2. Books and Pamphlets on the History of particular Nations and Peoples. 

3. Manuscripts on General and Particular History. 

4. Books, Pamphlets, and Manuscripts of Biography. 

5. Especially Books, Pamphlets, Manuscripts, and Historical Relics per- 
taining to the History of Rockland County and vicinity. 

Members are especially desired to furnish information upon Historical 
Matters pertaining to the County, either in the form of Papers, to be placed 
on file, or to be read at the quarterly meetings of the Society. 



NOTA Bena. —Donations of Books, Maps, Charts, Manuscripts, Indian 
Relics, Relics of the Revolutionary War, and other historical objects of in- 
terest, may be sent to the Secretary, where they will be carefully preserved 
for the Society. 

Articles sent should be directed to 

HENRY WIIITTEMORE, Recording Secretary, 

Nyack, N. Y. 



OFFICERS FOR IS SI. 



President, 
COKNELIUS R. AGNEW, M.D. 

Vice-Presidents : 
Rev. J. H. GUNNING, Hon. J. W. FERDON, 

Hon. a. E. SUFFERN, W. GOVAN, M.D., 

J. SNEIDER. 

Recording Secretary, - - . . HENRY WHITTEMORE. 
Corresponding Secretary, - - - W. S. GILMAN, Jr. 
Treasttrer, G. VAN NOSTRAND. 

Executive Committee : 
QUINTEN McADAM, GEORGE F. MORSE, 

R. LEXOW, Rev. W. C. STITT, 

Rev. G. M. S. BLAUVELT, JOHN CHARLTON, 

GARRET E. GREENE. 

Ex'-Officio: 
C. R. AGNEW, M.D., HENRY WHITTEMORE, 

Rev. J. H. GUNNING, W. S. GILMAN, Jr.. 

G. VAN NOSTRAND. 



ADDITIONAL RESIDENT MEMBERS. 

Rev. H. E. Decker, Floyd Bailey, Peter V. King, A. T. Blauvelt, 
S. B. HusTED, Garret E. Greene, H. E. Lawrence, James'S. Haring, 
C. T. PiERsoN, E. F. PiERsoN, TuNis Tallman, Nicholas Blauvelt, 
W. H. McCoRKLE, William Ferdon, Quinten McAdam, Dr. G. F. Blau- 
velt, Rev. J. H. Gunning, George F. Morse, Cornelius F. Smith, 
Hon. Abram S. Hewitt. 

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. 

Cyrus W. Field, Benson J. Lossino, Col. C. M. Weld, Gen. W. S, 
Stryker. 



PAPER NO. 1. 

THE MEN AND COUNTRY HEEEABOUTS ONE 
IIUNDEED YEARS AGO. 

Fellow-Citizens of Rockland : The ' anniversary of the 
birthday of Washington deserves general renieml^rance 
througliont the land, and special remembrance in this locality. 
The tendency of the times I fear is rather to reverence tlie 
rising and risen men of the land than to remember, as we 
onght. those who gave birth, health, and strength to the 
nation. Without doing injustice to the living, it becomes us 
to-day at least, to recall some of the transactions of a hundred 
years ago. A few months beyond that period, or on the 2Sth 
of September, 1T80, Washington and his staff, who had been 
upon a visit to the French General Rochambeau at Hartford, 
arrived at Tappan near you and took up his quarters at the De 
Wint mansion* erected in 1700, and still well preserved. Tlie 

* The quaint old building known as Washington's Headquarters at Tap- 
pan, although associated with one of the most important events of the Revo- 
lution — the trial and execution of Major Andre — has yet little more thuu a 
local reputation. It was erected in the year 1700, as is attested by figures 
some four feet in height set in the front brick wall of the building. Among 
the interesting relics in the possession of the Historical Society of Rockland 
County, is an old parchment deed executed " on the first day of June, in 
the Thirteenth Year of the Glorious Reigliu of our Sovereign Lady Anne, 
by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the 
Faith, anno Domini One thousand seven hundred and fourteen " conveying 
to one " Deirk Straatmaker, Freeman, one-sixteenth part of Orangetowu. 
alias Tapau, for the sum of Forty Pounds current money of New York." 
This property was purchased by Johannes De Wint, a wealthy planter from 
St. Thomas, West Indies, about 1756, and continued in his possession up to 
1790, the tune of his death. The old well, which with the fence connect- 
ing it separated the negro quarters (slaves of De Wint) from the house, is 
still used by the present occupants of the premises, but the old Avell-svveep 
with " the moss-covered bucket " has long since been removed. 

The Rockland County Historical Society made application some two 
years ago to the Legislature of New York for an appropriation of $G'500 to 
purchase this property. The bill passed both Houses of the Legislature, 
but was vetoed by Governor Robinson. Its present owner is Mr. Wui. 
Rogers of New York. 



house was cAviied by Johannes De "Wint, a planter from St. 
TJionias, one of tlie West India Islands. With the exception 
of Major Blanvelt, the son-in-law of De Wint, all the family 
M'ere loyalists ; but the daughtei', with the natural spirit of u 
woman and of the times, was proud of the honor of entertain- 
in t;- the Commander-in-Chief of the American army. During 
the trial of Andre, Washington followed strictly his haltits of 
family w'orship in the parlor of the mansion. The orderly life 
of his early home was his practice then, and up to the last 
month of the last year of the last century, when he died ; 
almost his last words being " I die hard ; but I am not afraid 
to go !" As an incident of the times let me state that a 
grandmother of Colonel Ilaring, of Rockland County, was in 
the habit of visiting the soldiers on errands of mercy while in 
your locality, and that in one of her visits she found a soldier 
under sentence of death for desertion. The j)oor fellow plead 
with her to intercede in his behalf. Calling at liead(juartcrs 
the follow^ing morning, she was informed by Major Blauvelt, 
the son-in-law of Mr. De Wint, that the General was conduct- 
ing family worship, and that immediately after tlie serv^ice he 
would open the front door and walk through the hall. Bid- 
ing her time she saw the Commander-in-Chief and made 
known her errand. " I am afraid he is a bad man, but for 
your sake 1 will see what can be done," said the General. 
After investigating the case he pardoned the man. Three 
weeks after he deserted again, and was cajDtured and shot. 
Washington's almost single failure in his judgment of men 
was in the character of Arnold. Arnold's early life hud 
proved his courage in the field and his devotion to the coun- 
try. 

Everything in the room occupied l)y Washington remains 
as he left it. The old Dutch tiles, with their Scripture illus- 
trations, adorn the mantel. The closet and its wooden pegs 
used by the General for hanging his clothes, are the same. It 
was in this room that Washington signed the death warrant of 
Major Andre, and from one of the windows he saw the prepa- 
rations for Andre's execution upon the hill and ordered his 
servant to close the blinds. As we shall see in the end he 
looked upon this act as one of the necessary tragedies of war. 

Major Andre left West Point on the morning of Septendjer 
2Sth, Avith Major Talhnadge, and arrived at Tappan on the 
evening of that day. lie was assigned (piarters at a tavern 



9 

then kept b}' Caspanis Maybee, known at present as the " '76 
House. ""'^ This was the first hotel in old Orangetown. At the 
same time Joshua Hett Smith was confined in the Dutch 
church, about 100 feet distant from the '76 House, where he 
heard most of the conversation during the trial of Andre.- 
The Dutch churcli, where Andre was tried, was built in 1716, 
rebuilt and enlarged in 1788. At a later period it was demol- 
ished and the present edifice was erected in 1835. 

The provisions supplied Major Andre during his confine- 
ment were sent from Washington's private table. Mrs. De 
Wint's daughter probably gave all the delicacies which a vsym- 
pathizing woman could provide for an attractive man doomed 
to die for his zeal to serve his country. 

I am asked in the memorable event celebrated to-day to 
speak — quoting the words of the Kesolutions of your society — 
" of the wisdom and firmness of Washington under circum- 
stances of peculiar trial, in which even his most devoted 
followers were disposed to question his humanity, if not his 
justice, and almost to fall in with the sentimental calumny of 
the day, which has been so often revived and refuted as to 
become ridiculous." I am also assured that " The memorial 
stone of Andre's execution is a monument to Washington," 
So interpreting the meaning of the words of your society, I 
shall speak of the event of September, 1780, of the treason of 
Arnold, of the captors of Andre, of the execution of Andre 
on the 2d of October, and of him who, above all other men in 
this nation, and out of it, in my judgment, remains truly and 
historically to-day, as he did 100 years gone by : "First in 
war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 

Men die in the order of nature, and in the wisdom of Provi- 
dence monuments are erected to commemorate the deeds of 
the brave and the good. They record near by one of the most 
signal events of the Revolution. They stand elsewhere in 
honor of the three j)easant militiamen, Paulding, Williams, 
and Van Wart. The peasants who captured Andre have been 
long since dead, but the act performed by them will live to 

* This first tavern in Orangetown was kept at this time by Casparus 
Maybee. Andre was led from this place to the summit of a hill in 
the rear, the place of his execution. Until within the last ten years the 
place has always been used as a tavern or drinking saloon. It has been un- 
occupied for a number of years, and the piazza in front presents rather a 
dilapidated appearance ; otherwise the building is well preserved. 



10 

the end of time. I tnist also that they have passed beyond 
the criticisms suggested by Andr6, and spread before Congress 
and the country nearly forty years after Andre's execution. It 
is plain to me that Andr6 could not or did not value the men 
in whose hands he was at their manly worth, and to whom he 
offered, unaccepted, for his liberty, promises of unlimited 
reward. 

ANDKE AND HIS THREE CAPTORS. 

I shall not ask much more tlian a passing notice to-day to 
the men who captured Andre. Their lives and best deeds 
have been remembered in various addresses upon the opposite 
side of the river, and sometimes on these shores. We give all 
due honor to their memories, all just praise to their virtues, 
and all glory to their example. The work of these simple 
men, in the most trying period of the Revolution, is so 
wrought into the history of the nation that it has became one 
of its chief transactions. It is enough to say that the three 
men proved to be above temptation, if we are to believe the 
best evidences before us. We must, however, regret tliat 
men like Andre, and his friend Major Tallmadge, ever doubt- 
ed the integrity of the captors ; and regret also that the record 
was published more than once that " they Vere self-appointed 
to the office of stopping well-dressed travellers, and men who 
perhaps would have rifled a traveller." It is a duty to say 
that Paulding had been twice captured by tlie British army, 
that Williams was but twenty-two years old, and the eldest of 
his three comj)anions. Though young in years and poor in 
purse, they were rich in mature judgment, and in their work 
performed a service of immense value. 

The charges of Major Tallmadge on the floor of Congress in 
1817, grew out of the application of Paulding for an increased 
pension. The request gave rise to the debate which started 
the accusation that the captors were undeserving men, who for 
money would have released Andre. As it was they took his 
M'atch, which was afterwards redeemed by Colonel Smith for 
thirty guineas, his horse, saddle, and bridle, and for their 
service to the country they were rewarded by the State, b}^ 
Congress, and by that undying fame which, in work well 
done, and in names recorded in history, becomes immortal to 
the end of time. It is due to IMajor Tallmadge to say that his 
opinion of the bad character of Andre's captors grew in pait 



11 

out of tlie statement of Andre himself, that he would have 
been released at the time of his arrest if he had had money 
with him sufficient to meet the demands of his captors. There 
is no evidence of the truth of this statement. Looking at the 
good work done, and the temptations offered, it is a pleasure 
to accord the most honorable intentions as well as the grandest 
possible results to the timely and needed arrest of one, in 
whose hands for a time were the destinies of the nation. 

A scene of dramatic interest attaches to the time and place 
of Andre's arrest. The spy came upon his captors, galloping 
upon a large brown horse, upon one of whose shoulders was 
branded the initial letters, " U. S. A." He found them 
engaged in a game of cards. Before dismounting he was 
taken to a whitewood or tulip-tree — long known as Andre's 
tree — its girth of twenty-six feet and its gnarled limbs 
reaching almost to the earth, making it an object of intense 
interest, at times almost of reverence, and especially so, after 
the tree was struck with lightning. Here Andre, as in the 
very shadow of death, stood with a marked countenance, a man 
about five feet seven inches in height. Here he was again 
questioned, and protested that he liad no letters — perhaps, 
under the circumstances, and as wilful deceivers value the truth 
when in danger, a pardonable lie. Piece by piece he threw 
off his clothing. His long boots, the first object of attraction 
on the highway — for boots were rare and valuable at that time 
— proved that Andre was no common man. If — as was 
alleged thirty-seven years later — the captors were looking for 
money, they found in the stockings in Andre's boots treasure 
far more valuable than all the gold and silver in the colonies. 
The cry came at once and with an oath, which might also be 
pardoned in the Heavens : " Here it is ,^" " He is a spy !" 
And the prisoner was borne twelve miles off to Lieutenant- 
Colonel Jamieson, in command of the nearest quarters of the 
American army. With no suspicion of treason the first order 
of Jamieson was to send Andre to Arnold ; but, a good provi- 
dence changed the intent as to the prisoner, but not as to 
information sent to Arnold of the capture of a spy. The 
escape of Arnold was a cruelty to the cause he had both served 
and betrayed : to the country at large, and in its example to 
mankind. He told the story of his villany in a few hurried 
words to his devoted and agonized wife, who, with her infant 
child in her arms, fell fainting to the floor, as it were, dead ; 



12 

but now, alas, the life-long companion of tlie basest of ingrates 
and traitors, and far worse than dead. She was, be it said to 
her honor, and in sympathy Avith her great misfortune, inno- 
cent of all knowledge of her husband's infamy, and of all 
offence against her couutry ; and "Washington, at the request 
of Arnold, sent her in safety to her paroTital home in Phila- 
delphia. 

PATRIOTISM AND TEIALS OF THE KKVOLUTIOX. 

I stop here to recall the fact stated by General Greene on 
the 26th of September, 1780, that " this was the first instance 
of treason of the kind where many were from the nature of 
the dispute to be expected." But this one example was upon 
the mind of Washington most distressing. " Whom," he was 
tempted to exclaim even to his friend La Fayette, in view of 
the confidence reposed in Arnold, and who, after earnest 
importunities growing out of his wounds and alleged weak- 
ness, he had placed in supreme command at West Point, 

" WHOM CAN WE TRUST NOW ?" 

The prisoner was at this time under the care of Major Tall- 
madge, when the latter, in answer to a question as to the 
possible fate of Andre, reminded him of the fate of his om'h 
classmate- and friend, Nathan Hale, near the commencement 
of the war. ' ' Yes, ' ' said Tallmadge, ' ' he was hanged as a 
spy !" " Surely," quoth Andr6, in rejDly, " you do not con- 
sider his case and mine alike ?" " They are precisely similar, 
and similar will be your punishment," was the prompt answer 
of his keeper, and of a man in deep sympathy with his fate. 
It -was the result of this free, intercourse no doubt which 
prompted Tallmadge to declare in Congress that the captors 
of Arnold M'cre " cowboys, or persons who traded with both 
camps and drov^e cattle for profit between the two armies." 
Major Biddle treated this statement, as did many in Congress 
when it was made, as ungenerous and unjust. 

Nathan Hale, it is projser to say in passing, was hung in 
1776, in the morning of the Revolution. After one night's 
imprisonment he was executed, without trial, without mercy, 
and as a dying man was even denied the use of a Bible. Like 
Andr6 he was a spy. His letters to his mother and the lady 
he loved were torn to pieces before his eyes. Even his last 
recorded words of love and final remembrance failed to move 
the stony heart of the miscalled man and officer before him. 



13 

Young Hale entered tlie enemy's lines at the request of Wash- 
ington, who needed light as to the number of the enemy on 
Long Island. "With the pui-est motives and for the most 
patriotic services he met the wishes of his Commander-in- 
Chief. He was detected as he was leaving the enemy's camp, 
and was betrayed by his own kinsman. The time of his exe- 
cution was at break of day, while the great fires of September 
21st, 1776, were smouldering in the distance, and where the 
conflagration heightened the anger of the British occupants of 
American territory. His execution Avas upon the order of Sir 
William Howe, and the manner of it was the most brutal 
official act of the seven years' Avar. The treatment and trial 
of Andre, in contrast, not only won the sympatliy and approval 
of Andre himself, but the respectful recognitions of the entire 
country. Whatever the differences of opinion as to the act of 
execution upon the gibbet, there Avere none as to the fairness 
of the trial. jSTor was there any division of sentiment as to 
the gentlemaidy and courageous bearing of the prisoner. 
Andre was but twenty -iiine at the time of his execution and 
Hale but tAventy-one, While Andre in his death Avas calm, 
silent, and self-possessed, almost beyond precedent, the last 
and glowing words of Hale were his regrets that " he had but 
one life to giA^e for his country." In contrast to Hale's man- 
ner of death, Andre Avrote to Sir Henry Clinton, September 
29th, less than three days before his execution, asfolloAvs : "I 
receive the greatest attention from his Excellency General 
Washington, and from every person under Avhose charge I 
happen to be placed. ' The spot Avhere Hale Avas buried no 
one knoAvs, Avhile Andre received the respect of his enemies, 
the honors of his country, and to remove the taint of hanging, 
the King of England knighted one of Andre's brothers. 

Washington, Ave read, burst into tears A\dien he heard of the 
treason of Arnold, and said " I had no more suspicion of 
Arnold than I had of myself." Andre also once burst into 
tears when he counted the cost of a sacrifice Avhich, beginning 
in Arnold's foul treason, ended in his OAvn death upon the 
gibbet. Andre's tears, it is proper to say, grcAV out of his 
great distress for the feelings of Clinton, Avliose orders he had 
exceeded, whom he sincerely loved, and in whom Clinton seem- 
ed to repose more confidence, and to give more power, than 
to any other officer on his staff or under his command. 

One other scene recorded in the drama of Andre's seizure 



14 

can never be forgotten. Hitlierto all had been well witb hhn, 
especially bis many miles of miclnigbt travel with muffled oars 
from King's Ferry to Teller's Point and back from the Ynlture 
to Long Cove. He had left behind him all the guards, sentries 
and patrols of his enemies, and was looking forward to the meet- 
ing of friends in a place of safety, when he was confronted by 
his three captors with three cocked muskets aimed at his person. 
As a means of safety he was clothed in part in the dress of 
Arnold's confidential, if not traitorous, companion, Smith. 
The dress worn by him was a tall beaver hat, crimson coat, 
and i^antaloons and vest of nankeen. He also bore upon his 
person the order of Arnold "to pass Andre where he would 
within the American lines." Edmund Burke's Register has 
said of the offender, that "his open bravery, high ideas 
of candor, and disdain of duplicity, imfitted him for the 
mechanical boldness, dissimulation, and circumspection of a 
spy." When discovered he thought the three men he 
encountered on the highwa}'^ belonged either to his own coun- 
try,- or if not that they were friendly to it. Paulding had 
been only four days out of a British prison, and one of his 
keepers had compelled him to change his own better dress for 
that of a Briton or Hessian. In this recognized dress Andre's 
eyes fell first upon Paulding and then upon his companions. 
Some ambiguous word of one of the captoi*s brought out the 
response which betrayed the spy : " You are from heloio. I, 
too, am from below. I am a British officer, on urgent busi- 
ness ; do not detain me a minute." Then came the presenta- 
tion of Arnold's pass, and the vain . threat of Arnold's name 
and vengeance, if it was not respected. The boots, the boast, 
the urgency of manner, and the promise of money, made duty 
plain, and brought out the reply of Paulding, which, like 
Xathan Hale's last words, will live forever : " If you gave us 
ten thousand guineas, you should not stir a step." 

TUK TREASON OF ARNOLD. 

General Arnold has been compared to General ]\louk, whose 
bad example the American traitor copied, but M'ith none of 
Monk's success. George HI. was Arnold's friend ; while I'ca- 
son was entln-oned in the brain of the king he was in high 
favor with his majesty, l)ut when the mind of the king was 
lost by a fatal insanity, the honest people of Old England re- 



15 

called the man who had brought neither honor to himself nor 
profit to their coimtrj ; and thej also remembered him as one 
whose crimes to his own conntrj as well as to the British 
colonies in America, had cansed the death of one now es- 
teemed and honored through all the realm. Lord Snrrey 
said in Parliament, , " I will not speak while that man 
is in the House." Lord Lauderdale was equally offend- 
ed when he saw Arnold familiar with the king. Then came 
the plague-spot in Arnold's life. Despised in England, 
detested in America, and wretched in his own existence, we 
are told, in a family tradition, possibly true, that his last words 
were : ' ' Bring me, I beg you, the ej^aulettes and sword knots 
which Washington gave me ; let me die in my old xVmerican 
uniform, the uniform in which I fought my battles, and God 
forgive me," he added, "for ever putting on any other." 
The death of this man took place in 1801, but where buried, in 
the wilderness of London no man knows. When Arnold and 
his wife looked upon the remains of Andre in Westminster 
Abbey, then, indeed, he might have felt and said all this, and 
more than this, especially when he remembered that his, in 
high places, if not in the lowest estate, was the solitary treason 
of his country : 

" One grateful truth lie left to slad mankind, 
That in a war so loua^, his crime alone 
Should stain the annals of recording time," 

We recall also as a part of the events of the time in hand 
the impudent threats of Arnold in his letters to Washington 
in behalf of Andre, and the persistent but more honorable de- 
mands of Clinton and his friend Robinson for his release, 
because Andre, as alleged, but without truth — Andre himself 
writing to the contrary — was under " a flag of truce" when he 
left the Vulture, and rightly named the Yulture for the mis- 
chief done botli to Andre and Arnold. The court which tried 
the offender, the chief of the army, who felt deep pity for 
Andre's youth, and res])ect for his manly bearing — and it was 
in every way deserving of respect and sympathy — and the 
general feeling of the country was that there could be no pardon 
for such an offence. It was said at the time that " men are 
not to be reckoned as we reckon animals, and that one camel 
is worth no more than another, l)ut the man who is before us 
is worth an army." 

]^ or was the sentence and execution one of retaliation as has 



16 

been more than once stated, for since the liang-ine: of Nathan 
Hale in 1776, at least eight British spies had been hung. The 
i-eply of Israel rntnani to General Tryon expressed the spirit 
of the times and the duties of the occasion. He wrote as 
follows : 

" Sm : Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your king's service, was taken in 
my army as a «;>//, he was tried as a .«;)?/, he was condemned as a .v/\y, and 
you may rest assured, sir, that he shall l)e hanged as a spy. 

" I have the honor to be etc., 

"Israel Putnam." 
"P. S. — Afternoon. He is hanged." 



ANDRE AS A MAN, AN OFFICER, AND A SPY. 

The disloyalty of the period, and the great number of loyal- 
ists even in this part of the coimtry, as I have said, made some 
terrible example a necessity. Andre was not only a spy in 
1780, but it is stated, and is believed, tliat he "svas a successful 
spy, in the disguise of a cattle driver, in the fall of Charleston, 
one of the greatest disasters of the war, compelling as it did 
the surrender of General Lincoln with his army of nearly 7000 
troops. The fact of Andre's presence disguised as a spy in 
the South, as well as at the North, is upon the evidence of 
one of Clinton's omu officers who so stated in 1822, and of one 
of Andre's intimate friends. He was fond of adventure, and 
by talent and study, by art and address, was fitted, Mr. 
Burke's Register to the contrary, for the work before him. 
He found pleasure in danger. Like Arnold he could run with 
the hare or hunt with the hounds. He was in the upper story 
of Smith's house in the gray of the morning and through the 
night. He left Arnold, we are told, who detained him 
through the night, depressed in spirit and sad in countenance, 
\y\xi recovered rapidly as he jjassed beyond what he regarded 
as points of danger. All commend his self-possession from 
the hour of his arrest to the moment of his execution. He 
shuddered, but only for a second of time, as he glanced at the 
gibbet which in a moment was to launch him into the presence 
of the Almighty : Init witli recovered composure he calmly 
said, " It will soon be over." I may say of lum, without 
exaggeration and hardly in a figure of speech, that '' he smiled 
at the drawn dagger and defied its point." 

It is due to his gentle nature also to say that in the jiresence 
of women and children he was every inch a manly man. 



17 

Wlien practically second in command in New York, lie came 
to the rescue of a lad fifteen years of age, a boy of true 
Yankee grit in the fight, but not so plucky in defeat. The boy 
had been caught while fighting, with children of a larger 
growth, a body of men on the British side engaged in a forag- 
ing party. The party were taken to the city jail, where 
Andre, richly dressed in his uniform, approached the lad and 
said to him : " My dear boy, what makes you cry ?" The 
natural and childish answer, in sight of the prison was : " My 
mother and my sister at home !" And Andre then said : 
" Well, my dear child, don't cry any more," and after seeing 
Clinton he came again to the scared and weeping youth and 
said : " My boy, I've good news for you ! The General has 
given you to me to dispose of as I choose, and now you are at 
liberty. So run home to your parents and be a good boy. 
Mind what they tell you. Say your prayers, love one another^ 
and God Almighty will bless you." 

Inside or outside of the gospel of peace for men, women or 
children, State or country, I have never heard in words a 
better sermon, nor read a nobler example than this. 

There is abundant evidence also of Andre's kindness to Amer- 
ican prisoners of war when under his care. All who were near 
him were kindly treated. Washington the Chief, his aide-de- 
camp, Hamilton, then at about the age of twenty -tln-ee, Avho 
was much with him. Major Jackson, who had received Andre's 
kindness in jDrison, one and- all indeed were deeply touched 
with the genuine manliness of the prisoner. Hamilton could 
not refrain from saying, while justifying the execution, in a 
long and memorable letter to his betrothed : " I confess to 
you I had the weakness to value the esteem of a dying man 
because 1 reverenced his merit ;" and Hamilton would if he 
could have sav^ed his life by receiving, life for life, Arnold in 
exchange. It is in evidence that Washington proposed this in 
a letter to Clinton under a flag of truce ; but, as was natural, 
and in war and jDrecedent proper, the offer was declined. No 
wonder that La Fayette, as one of the court who sentenced 
him to death, said : " All the court were filled with expressions 
of admiration for him. It is impossible to express too much 
respect or too deep regret for Major Andre." Tallmadge 
wrote, ' I became so deeply attached to Major Andre that I 
could remember no instance where my affection was so fully 
absorbed by any man." No marvel then that tears fell from 



18 

many eyes wlicn Andr6 died upon the gibbet, with the cour- 
age of a liero and the pliilosophy of a sage. 

The closing scene of all in Andre's life is one of the saddest 
recorded in history. lie apjU'aled to AVashington to soften his 
last moments by allowing him to be shot instead of dying 
upon the gibbet. His brief words were, for I am limited by 
rapidly passing time, to a paragraph : 

"Tappan, October, 1780. 

" Sj-mpathy towards a soldier will surely induce j'our Excellency and a 
military tribunal to adapt the mode of my death to the feelings of a man 
of honor. Let me hope, sir, if aught in my character impresses you with 
esteem towards me, if augljt in my misfortunes makes me the victim of 
policy and not of resentment, I shall experience the operations of those feel- 
ings in your heart by being informed that 1 am not to die on a gibbet. 

" John Andre, 
" Adjutant-General to the British Army." 

"Washington's counsellors declared the request inadmissible, 
and Washington himself chose not to add a fresh pang to 
Andre's heart by any written denial to his earnest request. 
And hence the studied silence where words would only have 
added more pain to the deepest sorrow. 

It was the mode of Andre's death which caused sharp ci-iti- 
cism and deep indignation in the country from whence he 
came, and it also caused profound pity, and not without criti- 
cism, in the United States. Andre was yoimg in years and eleven 
years the junior of Arnold when misfortune overtook him. He 
was born of Swiss parents in 1751, and educated in Euroj)e, 
Arnold, the source and cause of all his public woes, an Ameri- 
can by birth and education, had engaged a man of great address 
and of deliberate purpose to ruin the land against which he was 
in arms, and not now in the open field of war as at St. Johns, 
near Lake Champlain, and elsewhere. The deed was done 
in the l)y-paths and concealments of a country road, at night 
time in part, and under a false flag of truce. But if Arnold 
could have been exchanged for Andre the country and the Avorld 
would have rejoiced, and Andre's life been saved. Delicate 
and refined in features, educated in books and arts, cultivated 
in manners, brave as a soldier, fond of painting, drawing, and 
music, which not alone in poetry to his loved one, but in 
rhyme and song and music to his enemies, he used all his anns 
and arts, with skill and satire at the expense of America, and 
especially against General Wayne. 

He was in love, too, and, saddest of i^l to a sensitive mind 



19 

and licart, lie was a rejected lover, and this, I tliink, as rarely 
happens withont love lost npon his own side. The woman 
he loved, llonora Sneyd hy name, is presented to ns at the 
time as gracefnl in person, beantifnl in featnres, and as one 
whose expression heightened the .eloquence of everything she 
said. Another memory or painting of lier is that she was sur- 
rounded by virgin glories, beauty and grace, sensibility and 
goodness, superior intelligence and unswerving truth. It was 
said of Andre at home, and as a man worthy of this affection, 
that the better he was known the more he was loved, and cer- 
tain it is that in many ways his was a gentle spirit. He failed 
in love, and he failed in war. At St. John's in November, 
1775, he was captiired, with six hundred troops, and for a time 
was quartered in Philadelphia, later at Lancaster and Carlisle, 
and was released by exchange near the close of 1770. Soon 
he was advanced in the British army, and so passed on honored 
and respected until the fatal months, eighteen of them in all as; 
I read, when he became, if not the companion, the counsellor 
and correspondent of one, all in all, perhaps the blackest traitor 
named in the records of time. And so, as the good book 
tells us, it is always true that evil communications corrujit 
good manners. 

Better a hundred times over Andre than Arnold. Better 
Andre upon the gibbet, than Arnold the American traitor 
Major-General, or the Major-General of the British army. 
Arnold, intellectually and physically, was brave, brilliant, cap- 
able of immense will power, and of great nervous activity. 
He knew as a soldier, as some men have known in political 
service, how to be the greatest, wisest, and meanest of man- 
kind. He sold his honor and his patriotism to a bad ambition, 
a mean jealousy, and a spirit of revenge. In the history of 
mankind it would be hard to tind a -sadder example of the 
consequences of misguided thought and conduct, than in the 
life of Benedict Arnold. Some of his name, related to him 
by blood, honorable as citizens, have felt the sting of his crime, 
and have tried at times to find some excuse for it in tho seem- 
ing neglect of recognition for work performed by him when a 
successful soldier in the war of the Revolution, and especially 
for his valor at Saratoga and Quebec. We cheerfully admit his 
courage in battle, and in all that once belonged to the glories of 
the field his claim to higher military promotion, before he fell 
to the lowest depths of personal degradation. Whatever his. 



20 

MToiif^s, AVas]nni;ton, nor his country we]-e tlie Avrong-doers ; 
and if they liad been the man should have risen above revenge 
and treason and jjroved to the country and to mankind that 
j)atience, forbearance, and endurance are the first duties of the 
patriot and the sohlier. Arnold* as we have seen, so felt in the 
end, and but for the sin by which the angels fell a better fate 
might have saved his name and fame. 

WASniNGTOX, ARNOLD, AND ANDRE. 

As we feel to-day, the anniversary of the birth of Washing- 
ton, his greatest personal crime was to AVashington himself. 
To him he was guilty of ingratitude, injustice, insincerity, and 
baseness in all their forms. Though Washington had placed 
him in the triple post of conhdence, honor, and safety at West 
Point, to keep C.linton from the North and Burgoyne from 
the South, he sought from June to near the close of Septem- 
ber, if not long before, to break this barrier of separation, and 
to i^lace Washington, the army, and the country in possession 
of the enemy, and all for a sum of money, and a place in 
power. We give, therefore, special thanks to Almighty God 
to-day for the deliverance of the nation from the tempter a 
hundred years ago, as we tlo for the life and services and 
examjile and memory of George Washington. 

Lord Mahon chose in his History of England to regard the 
death of Andre as the greatest blot upon the career of Wash- 
ington ; and he. chose also to trace the fate of Andre to Wash- 
ington's sternness of character, and to his culpable omission to 
examine for liimself the particular facts in the conduct of 
Andre and the conduct of Arnold. It is enough to say in 
reply that Andre was dealing with a man guilty of the double 
crime of treason to his country and treason to his commander 
in arms. To this end he sought and obtained command of the 
fortress which sei)arated the two great forces of the enemy, 
lie had given orders to his subordinate. Colonel Sheldon, to 
pass Andre; through the American lines. He had carried on a 
secret and villainous correspondence with Andre, as one John 
Anderson, about "good speculations," "the jH-ice of tobacco" 
and " ready money. " He had again and again A'iolated the 
Hag of truce. On the night of September 21st he dispatched 
Joshua ir. Smith, if not an open criminal, an accomplice, to 
visit the British sloop-of-M'ar Vulture at Teller's Point, twelve 
or fifteen miles below West Point, and to this vessel he was 



21 

rowed by two laborers. He'was in conference witli xYndre at 
Smitli's Louse, tlie one an open foe to liberty and union, peo- 
ple and country, and the other making terms with this foe as 
to the price to l)e paid for tlie betrayal of liis country. lie 
had completed a bargain, under, six distinct heads, showing, 
one by one, tlie place and force of each cordis at West Point, 
of each redoubt and battery, with a complete description of the 
place, of the condition and strengtli of all points of defence, 
and the confidential communication of Wasliington to Arnold. 
Two of these papers gave, in Arnokl's handwriting, the 
strength of the garrison and the force necessary to man the 
works. Andre accepted all this information from Arnold 
secretly, willingly, on our own soil, and for the direct purpose 
of destroying the country. It is also important to remember 
that Clinton would consent to nothing short of a knowledge of 
Arnold's purpose to tell all he knew of the forces at West 
Point and with the intent of their surrender. Well did the 
King of England say " the public never can be compensated 
for the vast advantages which must have folloM^ed from the 
success of his plan," 

Andre also came from the Vulture to the shores of the Hud- 
son in his own British uniform, covered only by an ordinary 
cloak, and he returned in clothes borrowed from Smith and 
with a pass from Arnold. Smith, his companion, parted with 
him on the left bank of the river to report to Arnold at West 
Point that " all was going well," Arnold also was to receive 
for his treason if successful, £30,000 in money,* and no loss 
of rank or pay. Clinton, for value received, was as willing to 
buy as Arnold was to sell ; ready, indeed, to quote his own 
words, to close the bargain, " at every risk and at any cost." 
In the upi^er story of Smith's house, f already mentioned, 

* M. Marfoix is authority for tliis statement, and it was often repeated 
and generally credited. 

f Between tivo and three miles above the village of Ilaverstraw, ou the 
west side of the road leading to Stony Point, stands the old Smith mansion, 
memorable as the house wherein Andre and Arnold met to concert the 
details of the hitter's treason. It is a square, two-storied, stone house, with 
wooden wings, and is rather more modern in appearance than most of the 
houses that were built prior to the Kevolution. The interior of the house is 
spacious and handsome. The room the plotters were in is tlie southwest 
corner of the second story. In this room, it is believed, Andre changed his 
dress, and here still stands the wardrobe, in which he deposited his uni- 
form, and where it was found by Captaiu Cairnes, of Lee's Light Horse, 
who brought the order for it from Joshua Hett Smith, to the house of his 



00 



Arnold was piiyiiii,', by Ijetrayal of his country, the price 
agreed upon, and for several honrs the spy and traitor, face to 
face, were enuaued in these treacherons bargains. Arnokl 
here laid before Andre, in Smith's npper chamber, the othcial 
plans of all the works at West Point, and the very plans 
pi-L'])arcd for Washington by the Fi-cnch engineer Dnportail. 
These' were the jiapers seized, and it m'us for this seizure that 
the three cai)tors received their lands, medals, and pensions from 
the Ignited States Government, from the State Government, 
the thanks of Congress, of the Legislature of Xew I'ork, and of 
the ( 'ity of Kew York, in a monument for Paulding, besides 
the thanks of Washington liimself. The peojile at tlie time, and 
lV«r two generations since, have recognized their patriotism and 
the great value of their services. 

Of Arnold's thirty thousands pounds of blood-money, with 
pay and rank, which Clinton had promised him, 1 think I may 
say with A'attel, the great expositor on the laws of war, that 
sn(,-h bribes for seduction are not in accord with the laws of a 
moral cc)nscience. The best law says that " seducing a subject 
to betray his country ; . '. . practising on the fidelity of a 
governor, enticing him, persuading him to deliver up a place, 
is prompting siicli persons to commit detestable crimes ;" and 
A'attel asks, '* Is it honest to incite our most inveterate enemy 
to be guilty of a crime f He also says of spies, that " they 
are those wlio introduce themselves among the enemy to dis- 
cover the condition of his affairs, penetrate his designs and 
••omniunicate thqm to him who employs them." The entire 
lav.' of nations is in accord with this opinion, and hence when 
the conspirators of Clinton were engaged in the foul work of 
fomenting mutiny and treason among American troops at 
Princeton, they were seized and hung on the authority of the 
laws of war, or the law of nations. 

(-ieneral Washington, in his letter to Congress bearing date 
at liobinson's house in the Highlands, September 2(!th, 1780, 
«leclared, u])on the instant of his knoM-ledge of what these men 
had done, that '* their acts do them the highest honor and 
])rove them to be men of viitue," anil, he added, in a letter 
to liis court of six major-generals, and eight lu'igadier-generals, 
that the men who ti-ied him had performed their duty. 

lirollicr Thomas, ■wlieie the (iiptain wiis quartered. The house is supposed 
t') have hueu built some time previous to the Kuvolutiou, but the date of its 
erection is not known. It is well preserved, and is now owned and occu- 
pied by ^Ir. Adam Liiburu. 



23 

Of Arnold's antecedents, good and l)ad, I have spoken. Of 
the good, as at Quebec and Saratoga, where the good was of 
immense vahie. Of the evil, beyond his treason, was his hos- 
tility to the alliance with France, which contributed in ships 
and men upon the sea, and in men and arms upon the land so 
much to the crowning work of the Revolution which ended in 
the defeat of Cornwallis, and in compelling Lord North to 
resign with the cry that " All is lost. " In the height of the 
war ^Vrnold became weary of the war, and was eager for peace. 
Tlis mind, like his body, was ill at ease. He complained of a 
ruined constitution and of a limb rendered useless in the war. 
In his letter to Joshua TT. Smith he says : " At the close of tlie 
war I look for compensation for such damages as I have sus- 
tiiined," and the same man wrote these foul words from the 
Yultnre to Washington at West Point, October 1st, 1780 ; " I 
call Heaven and earth to witness that your Excellency will be 
justly answerable for the torrent of blood that may be shed," 
if Andre is executed. 

I leave Andre, whose remains were removed, with all the 
honors of war, from the place of his execution near at hand, 
and buried in his own country in 1821, under an order of 
George III. They were borne to the shores of his fatlierland, 
and with renewed honors placed in Westminster Abbey, where 
upon his monument we read, "he fell a sacrifice to his zeal 
for his king and country." Andre for sixty years has had his 
chief monument in the great mausoleum of tlie Old AYorld ; 
and a monument recording his execution as a spy is now here 
in your own County, in the ]!S[ew World. Of the wisdom of 
the erection of this last monument there may be a divided 
opinion, but let us wdth just explanations, question neither the 
motive nor the generosity it teaches. The sentiment which 
inspired it was the noble one of peace and good will among 
men ; peace between the mother land and the daughter land, 
between the nation from whose loins we and Andre came, 
kindred in language, enterprise, thrift, and most of all in 
liberty, intelligence and material growth. The monument 
here I believe was suggested l)y the distinguished scholar and 
preacher. Dean Stanley, who wrote l>y request of the donor, 
Mr. Cyrus W. Field, these historical words, no one of which 
in any way reflects upon the men who tried and convicted 
Andre, nor in -any way upon the country wdiose very life he 
w ould have taken in its first struggle for independence, nor 
upon Washington himself who signed the sentence of death. 



24 

" HERE DIED, OCTOBER 2, 1780, 
MAJOR JOim ANDRE OF THE BRITISH ARMY, 

WHO, ENTERING THE AMERICAN LINES 

ON A SECRET :^[ISSION TO BENEDICT ARNOLD, 

FOR THE SURRENDER OF WEST POINT, 

WAS TAKEN PRISONER, TRIED AND CONDEMNED AS 

A SPY. 

HIS DEATH, 

THOUGH ACCORDING TO THE STERN CODE OF WAR, 

MOVED EVEN HIS ENEMIES TO PITY ; 

AND BOTH ARMIES MOURNED THE FATE 

OF ONE SO YOUNG AND SO BRAVE. 

IN 1831 HIS REMAINS WERE REMOVED 

TO WESTj\HNSTER ABBEY. 

A HUNDRED Y'EARS AFTER THE EXECUTION 

THIS STONE WAS PLACED ABOVE THE SPOT AYHERE 

HE LAY, 

BY A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST WHICH HE 

FOUGHT: 

NOT TO PERPETUATE THE RECORD OF STRIFE, 

BUT IN TOKEN OF THOSE BETTER FEELINGS 

WHICH HAVE SINCE UNITED TWO NATIONS, 

ONE IN RACE, IN LANGUAGE, AND ONE IN RELIGION. 

WITH THE HOPE THAT THIS FRIENDLY UNION WILL NEVER 

» BE BROKEN." 

On the spot wliere this record is tlie body of Andre rested 
for forty years, and marked, as we arc told, only by a tree 
whose fruit never blossomed. 



Andre's trial and execution. 

In this connection I think I may also refer to the form of 
Andre's trial. Tlie record reads as follows : 

" Tlie Board liaviug considered the letter from his Excellency, General 
Washington, respecting Major Andre, Adjutant-General to the British Army, 
the confe.=?sion of Major Andre and the papers produced to them, report to 
liis E.xcelleucy, the Commander-in-Chief, the folloAving facts which a])poar 
to them in relation to Major Andre : 

"Firstly, That he came on shore from the Vulture, sloop-of-war, in the 
night of the 21st September instant, on an interview with General Arnold 
in a private and secret manner. 

' ' Secondly, That he changed his dress within our lines, and under a feigned 
name and in a disguised habit passed our works at Stony and Verplauk's 
Point, the evening of the 22d September instant, and was taken the morning 
of the 2od September instant at Tarrytown in a disguised habit, being then 
on his way to New York, and when taken he had in his possession several 
papers wiiich contained intelligence for the enemy. 

" Tlie Board iiaving maturely considered these facts do also report to his 
E.xcellencj', General Washington, that 3Iajor Andre, Ailjutant-Gchieral to 



25 

the British Army, ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy, and 
that agreeable to the law and usage of nations it is their opinion that he ought 
to suffer death." 

Sio-ned by ISTatlianiel Greene, M.G., president, and thirteen 
otliers, inclnding La Fayette, Steuben, James Clinton, Knox, 
and Starke. 

The letter of Washington which preceded this trial reads as 
follows : 

" Gentlemen : Major Andre, Adjutant-General to the British Armj\ will 
be brought before you for your examination. He came within our lines in the 
night on an interview with Major-General Arnold, and in an assumed char- 
acter, and was taken within our lines in a disguised habit, with a pass under a 
feigned name and with the enclosed papers concealed upon him. After a 
careful examination you will be pleased as speedily as possible to report a 
precise state of his case, together with 5''0ur opinion of the light in which he 
ought to be considered and the punishment that ought to be inflicted." 

And when all was over, another letter read as follows : 

" Paramus, October 7, 1780. 
"... This officer was execu'.ed in pursuance of the opinion 61' the 
Board on IMouday the second instant at twelve o'clock at our late camp at 
Tappan. ..." 

A word more of Benedict Artiold. lie, like Andre and his 
captors, also has his monument, and Alexander Hamilton, 
as the aide-de-camj) of Washington, inscribed npon it, in the 
fomn of the memories of the people, the nndying record, that 
while "Arnold is handed down with execration to fiitnre times, 
posterity will repeat with reverence the names of Paulding, 
Williams, and Van Wart," and in the same paper he said of 
Andre, in connection with these men : "^He tempted their 
integrity with the offer of liis watcli, his horse, and any smn of 
money they should name. They rejected his offer with indig- 
nation, and the gold that could seduce a man high in the 
esteem and confidence of his country had no charms for these 
simple peasants, leaning on their virtue and a sense of duty." 

Washington's paet in the tkial of andee. 

It was Sterne who said that " of all the cant in this canting 
world, though the cant of hypocrisy may be the M'orst, the cant 
of criticism is the most tormenting." The severest criticisms 
have followed the part taken by Washington in the trial and 
execution of Andre. Had the offenders been either of the 
Howes, in command of the British army and navy, or Clinton 



26 

in command when Andre was arrested, tried, sentenced, and 
executed, no deeper feeling could have pervaded Great 
Britain or impressed the colonies. The sentence and its exe- 
cution proved at least that America, sink or swim, live or die, 
was in dead earnest for independence. It was the detestable 
treason of Arnold also which was, in part, punished in the 
sentence of Andre. The latter was in close communication 
with a villain, and of a man whose later avowal Avas the confi- 
dent expectation that with the British in possession of West 
Point, America was subdued. At times that communication 
was open, and when necessary it Avas confidential and secret. 
The officers selected bj Washin'gton to hear and determine his 
case were men Avhosc rej)utations will live as long as the coun- 
try lives as among the wisest, truest, and most ]5atriotic men 
of the Ivcvolution. The report of these fourteen officers was 
unanimous, after the fairest trial, and l)y men who felt the 
deepest sympathy for the guilty officer detected in a work 
which contemplated literally tLe surrender of the strongest 
fortress in the laud, and the worst possible consequences to 
liberty and independence. Their verdict Avas- that " he ought 
to be considered as a spy from the enemy ;" and that " he 
ouglit to suffer death. " The next day, September 30th, 17.80, 
the sentence of death being known, Washington, now acting 
as a judge, obedient to law, as the chief of the army which 
Arnold Would have betrayed into the hands of Andre, a's a 
l^atriot Avhose mind was pure as the air of heaven, whose heart- 
in every fibre of its being Avas devoted to the love of country, 
Avrote these words : 

" The Command3r-ln-Cliief approves of the opinion of the IJoard of 
General oflicers respecting Major Andre, and orders tliat the execution of 
ilajor Andre take place to-morrow, at 5 o'clock, p.m." 

The execution Avas postponed until the 2d of October. 
September oOth, the sentence Avas laid before Congress, Avhose 
judgment Washington Avould gladly have received ; but, Avliile 
there was intense feeling upon the subject of the trial and the 
sentence of death, there Avas no pul)lic debate nor any inter- 
ference Avith the judgment of the court, nor any advice in re- 
gard to it. Stedman, the British historian, an officer under 
Clinton, charged Washington Avith " cold insensibility" for the 
mode of Andre's death, but let me answer that the mode 
Avas a logical necessity for the crime committed, and even 
Walter Scott so held it l)efore his countrymen. 



The appeals made to Wasliingtoii for an excliange of prison- 
ers by Clinton and his representatives, and for a change of 
the manner of death, were unheeded hut not iinlieard hy 
AYashington. lie did what the military conrt who ti-ied Andre 
decided to be jnst. He did what he thonght it was right to 
do, in view both of the crime committed against the conntry 
and as a necessary example npon the people of the nation, 
many of whom were disloyal even here in the midst of the 
conntry where the wrong was done. He followed the wisest 
military precedents all the Avorld over, ISTapoleon, when on 
trial before the greaf trinmvirate of British statesmen, -Stock - 
well, Ellenborongh, and Grant, thirty-fonr years after Andre 
was executed, was prononnced a pirate, a criminal, and a com- 
mon enemy of mankind. There was a disposition even to 
hand him over as a traitor to Louis XVIII., and only a division 
of opinion — where there was none in the conrt that sentenced 
Andre — sul)stituted an exile worse than death for death itself. 
The fate of Andre, ignominions as it was, was in the end better 
than that of many of his comrades ; better indeed than th?it of 
the King whom he served, and hardly worse than that which 
befel his two American friends, Hamilton and Henry Lee — 
the one killed in a most shamefnl dnel, and the other the 
inmate of a jail, the victim of a mob, the creature of malice 
and of the most terrible poverty. Chief Jnstice Marshall, 
pure and great, among the wisest of the land, said that " Andre 
liaving been unquestionably a spy, his sentence consequently 
was Just." 

Death early or late, as I have said, is the common lot of all 
mankind ; aiid it came to Andre a little beyond the morning 
of life, amidst the sincere regrets of his enemies and the 
esteem and lamentations of all whom he served on both sides 
of the ocean. " Unusually esteemed and unusually regretted," 
were the words of Alexander Hamilton in his record of the 
transaction, and this w^as the general feeling of all men. AVhile 
Hauiilton's sympathies for Andre were intense they were 
every way manly. " Never, perhaps," he said, "' did a man 
suffer with more justice, or deserve it less." He condemned 
Andre for what he had attempted against the country, and 
acquitted him, because, as he said, '' the authorized maxims and 
practices of war are the satire of human nature ;" and because, 
as he also said, '* these maxims jDcrmit the general that can 
make the worst traitors in the army of his adversary to be 



28 

frequently most applauded." Like Washington, Hamilton 
felt, as upon reflection we all must feel, apart from our 
interest in talent, taste, and a generous nature, that it was " a 
blemish in Andre's fame that he once intended to prostitute a 
flaa: : and about this a nice lionor owAit to have had a seru- 
pie." Major Tallmadge also wrote as Andre's sympathizing 
friend, "Though he dies lamented he dies justly." While 
Andre gave his true name to Washington, it is but a just 
inference to say that he did this jxirtly in the interest of 
truth, but more in his own interest for his own fame. In 
the myth "John Anderson," there was nowhere any 
personal interest ; as John Andre, Adjutant- General of the 
British Army, though the same man, he was altogether a dif- 
ferent person. The onlj^ particle of selfishness in his conduct 
after his arrest was in his letter to Washington, wherein he 
intimated a threat that '* some gentlemen at Charleston," quot- 
ing his own words, " were engaged in a conspiracy against 
us" . . . "objects wdib maybe sent in exchange for me, or 
persons whom the treatment I receive might affect." It was 
on this hint that Arnold wrote his threat to Washington, and 
Clinton also claimed Andre's release. The demand suggested 
acts bf retaliation which if put in practice no doubt Andre 
would have deplored. The suggestion was ungenerous and 
unjust, since these Charleston men, then in confinement at St. 
Augustine, had both invited and demanded investigation. 

Washington's miutaky tart in the avar. 

Among our people, my friends, I have seen and heard men 
who, conceding the noble character and services of Washington, 
hesitate to admit his success in war. To this belief or un-* 
belief let me answer that Washington's retreat from Long 
Island and New York city, despite the losses by retreat and 
battle, was one of the great marvels and successes of the war. 
Sir William Howe was Commander-in-Chief on Long Island 
with a chosen force vastly larger than the American army. 
The victory of Howe was unavoidable, but from that victory 
Washington, by patience mingled with zeal, by vigilance 
coupled with forethought, rescued 9000 men from the enemy 
and led tliem through the city to Fort Washington, where 2000 
Americans were finally taken prisoners. But this was when 
Howe was in IS'ew York, Cornwallis in pursuit of Washington, 



29 

and the Britisli fleet of 136 vessels of war was in the harbor 
of JSlew York. This was perhaps the darkest hour of the 
Revolution ; and for liberty and independence there seemed to 
be no light anywhere on the land or the sea, nor anywhere 
along the horizon. 

One of the worst trials of ^vnl\ in paper, called money, with 
no coin to redeem it, depressed the government credit, and 
deprived it of all reliable means of support. Men who had 
promised loyalty to patriotism and devotion to independence, 
lost for a season all heart and hope, and for a while the Crown 
of England was high in the ascendant. For a time also it 
seemed as if all the forces which had been saved from the 
enemy would disperse or dissol\^e. A feeling akin to despair 
seized the great body of the people ; but Washington never 
despaired. He was equal to the crisis, even when Lee and 
Gates declared that "a certain great njan," meaning Wash- 
ington=^ " is most danmably deficient." Yet it was in this 
crisis that Sir William Howe upon the land, Lord Howe on 
the water, and Cornwallis in ])ursnit of Washington's newly- 
gathered militia — then only 5000 men in all- — were out-gener- 
alled and in all their leading plans defeated. 

The Jersey chain of forts, Avhich the British could have 
taken and held, were seized by Washington. Rahl was de- 
stroyed', Cornwallis mastered l)y strategy, and the victories at 
Trenton and Princeton were won. These victories quickened 
the pulses and warmed the hearts of the people. General 
Clinton declared to Sir William Howe and Lord Germain 
that the fatal mistake of the British was the movement of 
Cornwallis and General Grant southward. Duty and wisdom, 
they said, demanded the support of Burgoyne in the ISTorth ; 
and had this support been given it is among the probabilities 
of M'ar that Burgoyne would at least have saved his army at 
Saratoga. Philadelphia, however, was gained by the enemy 
if Saratoga w^as lost, and to our men, poorly clad, poorly fed, 
poorly paid, and most of them plain militiamen, it led to 
another disastrous retreat. Washington was again defeated, 
chiefly by larger numbers and by greater skill in command. 
Generals Howe, Knyphausen, and their chosen oflicers led the 
Britisli troops across the Schuylkill, seized 7000 barrels of 
flour, the very bread of the army at Yalley Forge, and made 
this again one of the darkest j)eriods of the Revolution. 
Washington was again beaten, but in his patience, faith. 



30 

courage, and indomitable spirit, lie was never cnislied. The 
ex])ected aid from France came not, bnt bankruptcy, a far 
worse enemy than the British, came in place of it, and every- 
where stared the colonies in the face. The spirit of New 
England grew cold as the invaders left her shores ; but 
warmed again into natural fire as they returned to their work 
of invasion. 

Many of the landowners in Virginia and south of it clung 
for a time to the lan(h3d aristocracy, from whom they had in 
part derived their landed titles, or witli whom they were in 
sympathy. From this class Washington, the most nnselfish of 
men, then a mendier of the Continentill Congress, was in the 
beginning made by this Congress, on motion of John Adams, 
Commander-in-Chief. The end is familiar to you, and es- 
pecially in the events of the year whicJi followed Arnold's 
treason. In all the war of eight years Washington bnt once visited 
his home. Cdrnwallis, foiled in his advance on North Carolina, 
after the long British revel at Philadelphia, and the American 
losses and sufferings at Valley Forge, placed himself in strong 
entrenchments at Yorktown ; bnt the French fleet held the 
sea, and Washington by a sudden march soon held the land in 
front t)f the enemy, and Cornwallis was compelled to fight or 
to submit to a snrrender more disastrous than that of Bur- 
goyne at Saratoga. I shall not, therefore, recall any- words 
already spoken, not enter upon any vindication here to prove 
that Washington is still, in the estimation of his conntrymen 
of sober thought, " first in war, first in peace, and first in the 
hearts of his conntrymen," and this, let me say, whatever nuiy 
be the occasional flickering modern opinion against this con- 
clnsion. 

I recall briefly as one reason of his success what in his day 
Jefferson said of his qualities as tlie commander of the Ameri- 
can army : " Perhaps," said he, " the strongest feature in his 
character was prndence, never acting until every circumstance, 
every consideration, was maturely weighed ; refraining if he 
saw a doubt, bnt when once decided going through with his 
pnrpose whatever obstacles interposed. Hence the common 
remark of his officers of the advantage he derived from coun- 
cils of war, where hearing all suggestions he selected what was 
best."^^ 

* III the Vii-ginia Assembly, where lie served for many j'^eurs, aud Avhere, 
as late as 1774, he hoped with so many others lor an honorable and perpet- 



31 



' ROCKLAND AXD STONY POINT. 

Before I close let me not forget tliat I am in the County of 
Roekland, many of whoso aneestoi's were, and "whose people 
to-day are, distinguished for h^ve of conntry, and devotion to 
its Avelfare. Nor do 1 forget the exceptional and objection- 
able men of the past time, in this neighborhood, then a part of 
Old Orange. It was of your ancestors and neighboring peo- 
ple that General Howe said in ITTT, after taking possession of 
the Highlands : " I can do notlnng with this Dntcli popula- 
tion. I can neither buy them loith money, nor coiKpier them 
with foreey No higher praise conld be bestowed npon any 
2)eople. It was when all the strong places on the Ilndson 
were in the hands of the British and 000 chosen men with 
skilled engineers and selected ordnance were placed within 
the fortress that Washington, ever vigilant to move where 
opportunity and duty called for action, conceived the plan of 
securing Stony Point. General Wayne was asked to under- 
take the work, and Washington's plan of attack was submitted 
by his honored commander to Wayne liimself, then at the age 
of thirty-four. The characteristic answer of the man, whose 
sobricpiet was "Mad Anthony Wayne," — sober enough, 
hoM^ever, in all but his words — ^was, " Yes, General, I'll storm 
hell, if you will jilan the attack." " Better try Stony Point 
first,'' was Washington's much cooler and more becoming re- 
joinder. The attack was made in numbers less than one half 
of the British force within the fortress, and it came, as you 
know, from tAvo columns of 150 men each, and each column 
was led by a forlorn hope of twenty men — AVayne leading the 
foremost file on the right. Wayne was among the first who 
fell, struck by a musket ball. He entered the fort wounded 
and bleedbig, and asked to die at the head of his column. Of 
the first twenty wlio entered with him seventeen were 
disabled by the enemy. The men pushed forward with fixed 
bayonets and locks without fiints. They fought man to man, 
hand to hand, and in a kind of desperate conflict, never 
excelled even in the struggles of the Peninsular war, or of any 
other war. Fifteen of Wayne's forlorn hope were killed on the 

uuted union with* Great Britain, Patricia Henry said of liim as a fellow-mem- 
ber that " for solid information and sound jndnnient he was unquestionably 
the greatest man in the Assembly." And herein is the revelation of his great 
success. 



32 

sjoot, and eighty-three of his followers were M'ounded, while 
the Britisli lost only 53 in killed and Avonnded, bnt more than 
500 prisoners were taken, with all the ordnance and encamp- 
ments of the fort. Wayne's despatch to Washington, like 
the man, Avas brief and complete, and told the whole story in 
these few words : 

" The fort and garrison, with Colonel Johnson, are ours. Our officers and 
men behaved like men who were dcjtermined to be free. 
" Very sincerely, 

" Anthony Wayne." 

1 recall this incident for three reasons, first of all to state 
that it was Washington who conceived and ])lanned the attack. 
Second, in honor of the man selected l)y Washington to exe- 
cntc it, and finally to keep fresh in onr memories the place 
where the deed was done. Washington Irving, living npon 
the opposite shore, placed only a just estimate npon the suc- 
cessful attack when he called it '"one of the most hriUiant 
achievements of the Revolution. ' ' It Avas worthy of Princeton, 
Trenton, the marvellous rally from the depth of sorrow and 
defeat at 'New York, Philadelphia, Yalley Forge, and the 
great victory at Yorktown, each and all just so many proofs 
of the military ability of Washington in the war of the Revo- 
lution, From the few men at Yalley Forge to the presence 
of Howe's strong army of Britons and Hessians is indeed the 
military event of Washington's life. 

WASHINGTON IN CIVIL LIFE. 

I might recall to-day many precepts and examples in the 
life of Washington which have a direct bearing upon the time 
in which we live, and the close proximity of the coming 
change in our national administration. The first President was 
alike an example in civil service as he was in his military life. 
On the 2d of March, 1789, only forty days before his inaugu- 
ration, in a letter from Mount Yernon, he uttered these words, 
which many of us, politics apart, would like to hear repeated 
in the inaugural address of the incoming President ; certain 
I am they would have been welcome to me had the successful 
man been of my own political faith and household. Washing- 
ton at the date named wrote as follows : 

* 

" So far as I know my own heart, I wonld not be in the remotest degree 
iulluenced in making nominations by motives arising from the ties of family 



33 

or blood, and, on the other hand, three things, in my opinion, ought princi- 
pally to be regarded — namely, the fituess of characters to fill offices, the 
comparative claims from the former merits and sntferings in service of the 
diff(!rent canilidates, and the distribution of appointments in as equal a pro- 
portion as might be to persons belonging to the different States iu the 
Union." 

It was the author of tliis sentiment, when the first confedera- 
tion of States failed to establish a safe government, and wlien 
the colonies were as discordant as the waves of a vexed and 
troubled sea, who suggested the Conventions for Commerce, 
which finally ended in the Convention of 1787, of which 
Washington was a member, and which resulted in the Consti- 
tution of 1789, under which we now live and prosper as a 
nation. 



MEMORY AND CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. 

Finally, let me say of the memory of the name most hon- 
ored iiere to-day, that Washington in his stature, strength, and 
m"--ners was in every respect a man of commanding presence. 
^rect in person, robust in frame, lie stood six feet two inches 
in height, with full breadtlj of chest, large liands, and in their 
grasp in keeping with their form ; a large head, eyes of a 
grayish-blue, and larger in their sockets, as stated by his 
23ainter, Stuart, than any lie had ever seen. Ilis complexion 
was ruddy, his hair a brownish auburn, and the nose in its 
upper part broad and full. His whole appearance indicated 
the character of the man in a countenance showing the strong- 
est feelings ; but tempered, as a rule, with the judgment of one 
having perfect self-control, he was free from all mean preten- 
sions and all small passions. Simple in his manners he was 
also most courteous in his bearing. I think I may say of him, 
in the language of the dramatist, that though " checked for 
silence he was never taxed for speech." Ilis suffering for the 
sorrows of other men, mingled with the deep affliction felt for 
the frequent losses of his country, greatly added to his own 
distress of mind, and at times also to his apparent severity. It 
was all these qualities, blended with the purest love of coun- 
try and respect for the natural and political rights of his, 
fellow-men, with that kind of practical religion which while it 
trusted all things, hoped for all things and believed all things 
in Christian faith, prompted one of his historians to say of 
him, that " no nobler figure ever stood in the foi'cfront of a 



34 

nation's life/ ' There to-day let him rest in our affections, pure 
in jiis life as the clear atmosphere above ns ; firm in the dis- 
charge of duty, as the solid rocks which surronnd us, and like 
them towering in grandeur towards the Paradise of God, the 
destined home of men whose work on earth has called them to 
mansions in the skies. 

From these mansions in the heavens the recording angel 
writes: " Blessed are the pure in heart," ''Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord.'' Blessed to-day the memory of 
the man whose fame is as wide as the world, and unto whose 
form and presence God breathed. the breath of an unselfish 
public and private life. 

It was of this man that Mr. Fox spoke in the British Parlia- 
mept, in 1791, as " wiser in his own policy than the ministei's 
of his own country, or of any of the European courts ; and, 
as the illustrious man, deriying honor less from tlie splendor 
of his situation than from tlie dignity of his mind, before 
whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance, an ^ all 
the potentates of Europe become little and contemptible. '. . 
For him it has been reserved to run the race of glory withoui- 
experiencing the smallest interruption to the brilliancy of his 
career." Lord Erskine, a year later, in a letter addressed to 
AYashington, added, if possible, a greater tribute to this 
'' august and immortal name." " I have," he said, " a large 
acquaintance among the most valuable and exalted classes of 
men, but you are the only human being for whom I ever felt 
an awful reverence. I sincerely pray God to grant a long and 
serene evening to a life so gloriously devoted to the universal 
hapjiiness of the world." It is 

" Not in humble, nor in brief delight, 
Not in the ftuling echoes of renown, 
Power's purple robes, nor pleasure's flowery lap 
^J'he soul should find enjoyment ; but from tliese, 
Turnino; disdainful loan equal good. 
Till ever}'- bound at length should disappear, 
And intiuite perfection close the scene." 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 



011 769 228 9 

PARLOR OF THE DE WINT MANSION, 

Washington's Headquarters at Tappan, N. Y., during a part op 
September and October, 1780. 




On the morning of Monday, October 2d, 1780, Washington cat at his desk near the 
window shown in the engraving. Oliserving in the distance the prejiarations that were 
being made for the execution of Major Andre, he ordered his servant to close the blinds. 
It was in this room, on the day previous, that he signed tlie Death Warrant of Andre. The 
room remains in nearly the same condition as it was at that time. The windows, which were 
the old-fashioned 16-light sash, have been removed, and the 8-light sash substituted. This 
is the only change that has been made. The ligures shown in the engraving of the mantel 
were used in connection with an index of the Scriptural illustrations on the tiles, which are 
difficult to decipher without the aid of the index. (See pages 1 and 2.) 



